Another municipality has taken the first step to pulling out of the Pocono Mountain Regional Police Department, the second in two weeks to do so.

Mount Pocono Borough Council voted 5-2 to send a letter to the department's commission stating its intention to leave the four-municipality police department at the start of 2014.

Coolbaugh Township voted on Dec. 18 to send a letter to the police commission stating its intention to leave, and sent the letter on Dec. 21.

Tobyhanna and Tunkhannock townships are the other two municipalities covered by the department. Neither has sent an intent letter, and officials from both townships said they don't plan to. Under the department's charter, the deadline to send an intent letter to be out of the department by 2014 is Monday.

Councilman Fred Courtright said Mount Pocono's "hand was forced" by Coolbaugh sending its letter, since the township is responsible for 42 percent of the department's $4.8 million budget.

"We had talked about it, but when Coolbaugh made its move, it was more of a safety valve for us," he said. "Now we have this in hand in case of the worst-case scenario."

A municipality sending the letter does not guarantee they will leave the department. The municipality can negotiate with the department throughout 2013 to stay and rescind the letter at any time.

Borough Council President John Finnerty said he "hated" voting to send the letter, and vowed to do what he could to try and keep the department together. He praised the department's work, but said the letter being sent is a budget matter, nothing else.

Finnerty and Councilman Roy Gross, who serves as the chairman of the police commission, both were part of the founding team of the department when it formed in 1994 as a combination of the Mount Pocono and Tobyhanna Township police departments.

Gross and William Jabara were the two dissenting votes to send the letter.

"We're looking after our financial behinds," he said. "Maybe we should have been talking about this previously, but we need to talk about it now."

Tunkhannock Township Supervisor and police commission Treasurer Fran DePiano said he hopes the issues will be worked out.

"We have to figure out what the root of the problem is, find out how to fix it and then get them to continue on," he said. "It's disappointing. But I will make every effort to see if we can rectify it."

Mount Pocono pays 49.7 percent of its revenue toward the police department and is in a precarious situation because it is nearly maxed-out on its property tax millage. To raise taxes likely would require permission from a judge.

If Coolbaugh left, Courtright said he believes the cost for the borough will rise and send it to court to try to raise taxes.

"If Coolbaugh pulls back its letter, then I would imagine we'd almost certainly pull ours back," Courtright said.